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Salmon Launches Shrink Our Spending (SOS) Initiative

Mar 19, 2014

Press Release

Plans to introduce a series of bills over next few months to cut wasteful spending government-wide

Washington, D.C.—Last night, at a town hall meeting in Mesa, Rep. Matt Salmon (AZ-05) announced to over 200 East Valley residents his latest legislative initiative to highlight and cut wasteful and duplicative programs in every area of government.

Salmon released the following video message and statement introducing his latest initiative to restore fiscal responsibility to government:

“Our nation is drowning in debt – $17.4 trillion dollars of it…Yet, our nation’s leaders continue to approve wasteful spending without a blink, and continue to spend your tax dollars in the most imprudent ways. Enough is enough. We must have the courage to start cutting spending somewhere…

Every federal department, agency and office has wasteful spending within their budgets.

To address this problem and honor my promise to you, I am pleased to announce the launching of my Shrinking Our Spending Initiative, or SOS Initiative. My SOS Initiative will push to make the hard spending cuts we refuse to make, in the areas of government we refuse to touch.

My goal through the SOS Initiative is to find at least 1.5 billion dollars in wasteful spending that can be eliminated.

As part of my SOS Initiative, I plan to introduce a new bill each week we are in session to cut wasteful spending in a different area of our federal government.

These bills will highlight wasteful and duplicative programs that your tax dollars are currently funding. And some of these wasteful programs will surprise you…

SOS: East-West Center

Rep. Salmon released the following statement upon the introduction of H.R. 4231, To prohibit United States assistance to the East-West Center, his first bill in a series to reduce wasteful government spending:

“All too often, our Congress has refused to make the tough decisions to rein in our out-of-control spending problem. The time is fast-approaching where if we do not make these decisions ourselves, they will be made for us, as we have seen happen to our friends in Europe and elsewhere.

“Now is the time to keep our promise to cut wasteful spending, regardless of the political consequences, in order to become fiscally sound. We must put partisanship aside as we pursue fiscal sanity.

“While many of my proposed cuts would only amount to a tiny fraction of a reduction in total federal spending, we must start somewhere. As any family does in times of hardship, we must cut back on expenses and small luxuries.

“This bill is only the beginning of my efforts to help get the federal government out of our spending pit, one step at a time. My first bill addresses the East-West Center, a prime example of government pork.”

Background:

The East-West Center was established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 at the University of Hawaii’s Manoa campus to promote U.S.-Asian Relations. As part of the fiscal year 2014 budget, the East-West Center is scheduled to receive $16.7 million in federal funding. The East-West Center already receives large amounts of private funding through the East-West Center Foundation, which is an appropriate way for the Center to fund its programs. With taxpayer funds, the Center gives out grants with little oversight. This is not a comment on the work they do, but instead is a position that their work should be privately funded.

Rep. Matt Salmon (AZ-05) serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs as Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. He is also a member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
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